For years, Democrats and Republicans have debated about the significance of the laptop, which was left for repair at a Delaware shop.
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The Justice Department charged two former FBI officials with lying to Congress about an investigation around a laptop belonging to former president Joe Biden’s son Hunter.
Federal prosecutors in D.C. charged Nikki Floris, a former intelligence analyst in charge of the intelligence division at the Washington Field Office, and Bradley Benavides, a former deputy assistant director for counterintelligence, with one count of lying to Congress in statements they made during the Biden administration.
In a hearing Friday morning in U.S. District Court in D.C., U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui said the case involved a one-count complaint of false statements to Congress “regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop, investigations around that.”
In 2019, a Wilmington, Delaware, computer shop owner handed a laptop to the FBI that he said Hunter Biden had dropped off. The owner told The Washington Post that he decided to turn the laptop over to authorities after he viewed some of its contents.
For years, Democrats and Republicans have debated about the significance of the laptop, with Republicans saying it was key evidence of deep corruption within the Biden family and Democrats saying it was simply fodder for Republican conspiracy theories.
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In 2020, Floris and Benavides briefed Republican lawmakers about the laptop as part of a congressional investigation into Hunter Biden.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), then the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, claimed that the FBI officials gave that briefing as a way to frame the investigation as Russian disinformation.
Ron Safer, an attorney for Benavides, declined to comment after the Friday hearing.
Floris and Benavides turned themselves in to authorities on Friday morning. The government did not seek pretrial detention. A preliminary hearing was set for Tuesday.
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This is a developing story. It will be updated.
